


outside his vision

by reafterthought



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Gen, Time Travel, ffn challenge: diversity writing challenge, ffn challenge: ficletchap competition, ficletchap, word count: 5001-9999 words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-16 19:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13642584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reafterthought/pseuds/reafterthought
Summary: Kazui finds himself in an old and greyed out Karakura... and his father can't seem to see him.





	1. where in time

**Author's Note:**

> Written for
> 
> Ficletchap Competition  
> Diversity Writing Challenge, h10 - write amultichap with six or more chapters

Kazui is a little boy when he's whisked away to another world, but that's not unusual in his family's line of work. They're Shinigami, after a fashion, and that means they're always going between the Soul Society and their human world. They're also Hollows to an extent, which means ducking through Hueco Mundo along the way.

This looks like Karakura town in the human world, but it's not. It looks antique, almost. Greyed out. Like the photos his parents keep in the house. Like the many more photos his grandfather keeps at the surgery that doubles as the family home. Like Ichika's gotten into the charcoal again and scribbled over his far more colourful masterpieces. That's a trait from his mother, anyway. Not that he doesn't like the colour himself.

This place just isn't colourful. Which means it's not the human world. Probably not some part of the Soul Society he hasn't seen yet, either. Or Hueco Mundo. So he wonders where he's wound up. Or how he's wound up here.

It looks kind of familiar though, so he goes the way he thinks his house is. It's not there, but he hasn't got anything better to do than wander around and talk to the people that are also wandering, and so he does. He asks if anyone's seen the Kurosaki family, and they point him in the direction he thinks the surgery should be… assuming he is in the human world.

Maybe there's more than one human world and his dad, who's been to a few other worlds, isn't aware of that little tidbit. It's exciting, then, that he'll be the one who gets to tell his dad about it. His dad has a huge reputation, after all. His mum does too but he's dad's a certified hero. He has a badge and everything (though his aunts seem to think the badge is more a joke than anything).

In any case, he heads to the surgery because where else can he go? He heads to the surgery and he finds it where it should be – though some of the sights along the way have changed. Some he recognises anyway, from photos, like the school, and others he doesn't recognise at all.

Still, the surgery looks about the same and that's a relief because it's something hugely familiar in this only slightly familiar (and, at times, completely unfamiliar) place.

But when he opens the door, it becomes only slightly familiar again. Lots of photos, yes, but not a single one of him. That huge family photo isn't there either: the one his grandfather is so proud of, that he says shows off all three generations in a way most of the other photos don't quite manage. There's more of people he doesn't recognise, photos he may have seen in an album at some time but can't put a name to and doesn't care to. And his parents' wedding photo is missing too, and any photos of them all grown up. The oldest his aunts look is teenage. That's wrong. His aunts are fine adults and often baby-sitting him. And his grandfather doesn't have enough grey hair in those photos (as far as he can tell, anyway, with the photos greyed out). He looks almost… middle-aged. Also wrong.

And the man who walks out of the treatment in his white lab coat is the same man in the photos, but also too young and wrong.

And maybe the question isn't where he is, but when.


	2. Taste of Grandpa

The man who looks like a younger version of his grandfather smiles in his direction, then turns to the receptionist and asks something. Kazui can’t hear, but whatever she replies makes him frown. He makes a motion with his hand to follow him where she can’t see, and then heads back to the office with a ‘let me know if a patient comes in.’ And Kazui finds that odd, because how does the man know he’s not a patient but a lost boy? Especially if he’s somehow wandered back in time?

The man marches into his office, dallies a little, and then shuts the doors. It’s enough time for Kazui to sneak in, but is it sneaking when the doctor practically invited him?

Oh well. He’s looking now, anyway. ‘Are you lost?’

                ‘Yes!’ Kazui exclaims. ‘I asked and asked and asked for directions, and finally someone sent me here.’

The man’s brow furrows at that, but before he can comment, Kazui adds: ‘You look like Isshin-jichan.’

He blinks at him… then he laughs. ‘Well, I am Kurosaki Isshin. Though whose son are you? Ichigo? One of the girls? You’ve got Ichigo’s hair, anyway…’

                ‘Ichigo.‘

                ‘Oh no, wait. Don’t tell me. Isn’t that when you accidentally wind up changing the future or – oh.’ He shook his head. ‘Right, too late for that. I doubt Urahara will be able to keep his nose out, anyway.’

                ‘Urahara,’ the boy repeats. He knows that name. ‘Oh, the weird shopkeeper, right?’

His downsized grandfather laughs. ‘Definitely Ichigo’s kid. But he might be able to shed some light on what’s happened. Unless you can shed some light yourself?’

Kazui shrugs. He has no idea what’s happened, really. Might’ve been something he touched. That’s usually the problem and he was wandering around Soul Society which has plenty of odd things about.

Well, his mother’s always telling him to not run off, that he’ll get into trouble one day without them and it’s apparently happened. Or not. After all, he’s found his grandfather. ‘Can I see ‘tou-san?’

Isshin blinks at that, and then he frowns.

Kazui doesn’t see what the problem is.

‘Ichigo’s at school,’ he replies finally. ‘He’s got work after that, so it’ll be a while before he’s home.’ He considers the boy a moment, then sighs. ‘Though you don’t have anywhere to go, do you? Why don’t we get you upstairs for some lunch?’

Kazui’s stomach grumbles on cue. Lunch does sound good, especially if it’s his aunt Yuzu’s cooking… and it probably is. Even in elementary school, she was responsible for keeping the house in shape. And the house is neat and tidy when Isshin leads him upstairs (past the receptionist who only acknowledges Isshin’s break). There’s are more photos around, and other trinkets he doesn’t recognise – and no wonder. No doubt the décor’s changed in numerous subtle ways over the years. His father hasn’t been a teenager for a long time, after all, and his aunts are almost grown up as well.

They’re not married, though. And they still live at home. So they’re not a hundred percent grown up yet.

Yuzu’s cooking is still far better than his parents, though.


	3. salty secrets

Yuzu and Karin coms home. And they bring answers with them – or they’re the consequence of those answers. Either way, Kazui finally has a working explanation about why he’d been ignored so long: by the passerbys in the street, and by the receptionist as well. Yuzu, likewise, can’t seem to see him, but Karin can.

In in his time, Yuzu can’t see spirits. Somehow that gene skipped over her, but she doesn’t seem to mind it. She tries her best to guess where he’ll be, anyway, and smiles and lays out his spot for dinner – but what is surprising is when Ichigo comes home once everything’s been put away and flat-out ignores him.

He’s hurt at that. Hurt and confused. Ichigo is a substitute Shinigami, after all. Of course he can see spirits. His father and one of his little sisters can see spirits, and can see him. So why does Ichigo just ignore him?

He wants to go bang on his father’s door (odd to think it’s not his aunt Karin’s room anymore – or right then) and scream but he doesn’t. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t. He stares after him anyway, as he climbs the stairs and disappears.

                ‘Sorry about that,’ his younger grandfather murmurs from behind him. ‘I suppose we should have mentioned it, but I wasn’t sure if…’ His voice trails.

Kazui thinks he can guess now, but he doesn’t remember anyone having mentioned this before. ‘He lost his powers?’

                ‘After the fight with Aizen.’ Isshin shrugs. ‘Who knows if he lost them or just used them up. Or maybe it’s because… Well, I don’t know if that’s a topic for right now.’

Kazui frowns. He’s been pretty open about things, even with the whole potentially changing the future thing. He doesn’t see the harm, at all, of telling him about the past. Or maybe it’s like his parents sometimes say: that he’s too young – even though he roams around Soul Society on his own.

Okay, technically he’s not _supposed_ to roam around Soul Society on his own. He’s especially not allowed into all the places he gets into but his father’s usually quite busy when they go and his mother stays there, and usually Ichika’s parents too so the pair of them are left to find mischief together.

They’ve even met Aizen a few times, but it might not be a good idea to mention that.

He also doesn’t feel like mentioning it right now.

‘Well,’ he says instead. ‘I’m a human boy whose dad is a substitute Shinigami in my time, so...’

The man laughs. ‘Smartass,’ he says fondly. And huh, Kazui thinks, so he’s old enough for swear words (of the tame variety, at least) but not for facts that would actually be useful to know.

And now they’re both keeping secrets, apparently. That’s not going to help him. But what other options does he have? He doesn’t know where his mother is in this time period. He doesn’t know how he got here (or got to Karakura in the past, anyway; he knows how he got to the _surgery_ ) and Urahara isn’t exactly the most pleasant of people to seek out after dinner.

‘You can bunk with me,’ Isshin offers. At least he’s thought of that. ‘Or with Ichigo if you prefer, but he won’t sense your presence, I’m afraid, so that might be worse. Or there’s the couch or one of the rooms in the surgery if you’d prefer your own space.’

‘Surgery,’ Kazui replies, after some thought. Far enough from the Kurosaki family that he can wander if he wants to without disturbing the two who can see him, and he won’t run the risk of running into his father again either. And the receptionist can’t see him, so he doesn’t have to worry about getting caught if he oversleeps, or anything like that.

Maybe something will come with the morning. An idea or some help… or some answers from people who can give them.


	4. in steel's reflection

He wakes up under an unfamiliar roof, because he’s never slept in the surgery before. Maybe his father’s old room would have been better – but he’d probably forget about the other issue and have his heart broken again.

He hasn’t seen a spirit for seventeen months, huh. Kazui stares at the ceiling. If only his parents had mentioned that before. If only they’d told him how they fixed it, too, because then he can pass the message along and fix that mess, so the mess he’s in himself can be straightened out too. Lucky half the Kurosaki family can still see him, but they don’t offer much. Food and a roof over his head, yes, and they’re important, but in terms of answers…

He doesn’t want to deal with the old man in the shop by himself. He’s weird and scary and somewhat condescending at times, though no-one can deny his genius. He’ll know something. Probably. Hopefully.

Then again, they’re a good decade behind the times. They might be able to help much at all. They haven’t managed to give his father back his powers in seventeen months, after all. And he’s heard great things about some of the members of the old Gotei 13.

Ichika’s mum’s a Lieutenant right now, isn’t she? Or maybe she isn’t. Kazui can’t remember exactly when her promotion occurred, relative to the famous Aizen incident. He’s also not sure why Aizen is so famous, considering he’s not the only one to launch an almost-successful attack on Soul Society. Granted, he’s the only one they’ve had to seal away because they couldn’t manage to destroy him.

He’s pretty unimpressionable now, though. He’s sure someone could have gone back afterwards and dealt with him, no problem, if he was still a threat.

But that’s beside the current point. Aizen is seventeen months sealed and his father is seventeen months without his powers. He’s not seeing the relationship between those two either, except the obvious one. But that doesn’t tell him where his father’s power has gotten to.

Actually, does he still have his own power? He focuses, calling forth his own zanpakuto. It comes, humming cautiously. It feels the strange time they’re in as well, but it’s here nonetheless, by his side.

He breaths more easily. Here’s an ally that doesn’t keep secrets from him (except that’s also a lie, because he hasn’t unlocked his Bankai yet.

Maybe that’s what happened. He’s herd Bankai that are destroyed can never be restored. He’s also heard Shikai however can slowly regenerate, and through that the zanpakuto can be restored. Maybe that’s what’s happened. His father lost his sword and thus his power, because he’s pretty bad at casting manage (unlike Ichika’s mother who fires off spells like she’s got a bottomless magical reserve). But someone whose zanpakuto is broken and then restored… do they make a new Bankai or is that ultimate power lost to them forever? He knows his father has his Bankai but since he doesn’t know the answer to that question, that knowledge gives him no hints at all.

Unless he asks what his father’s Bankai looks like, of course. But what’s the point? He can’t exactly speed up the process. And isn’t he thinking a little too much about trying to change this part of the world? It might be why he’s here… but he looks at his own blade: flat and shining and his own wide eyes staring into it, and thinks that’s just his wistful thinking. Maybe there’s a reason here’s here. Maybe there’s not. But trying to change the future carelessly can be dangerous when he doesn’t know what’ll happen.

He needs someone who does know. And Urahara might. If not him, then Captain Kurotsuchi and he’s even creepier than Urahara.

And he needs to see his mother too, even if it might prove to be as pointless an endeavour as seeing his father was.


	5. needles in haystacks

‘Who is your mother?’ his grandfather-to-be asks.

Well, Kazui muses, that’s a valid question. Though his father was rather dense when it came to girls, or so everybody said. They had embarrassing stories to tell. And stories apparently not for a child’s ears that they hadn’t told him yet – including one involving old man Urahara.

But he’s not in the mood to just answer the question. Truthfully, he rarely is. He’s told Itsuka he’s “kind of a Shinigami” after all, and she’s still trying to figure out what he means.

To be fair though, he can’t help that. He’s got four separate bloodlines in him: Shinigami, Quincy, Hallow and whatever his mother’s powers qualify as.

Still… ‘Guess,’ he offers.

‘Hmm,’ his grandfather-to-be hums. ‘Well, Ichigo’s never really been interested in many girls, so I’m going to have to say Kuchiki-chan or Inoue-chan.’

‘Inoue,’ Kazui agrees. Well, apparently his parents’ friends had those stories right, at least. ‘So, know where to find her?’

‘Hmm…’ the man hums again. ‘I don’t know her address, no.’ And Kazui groans, because of course it won’t be that simple. But then his grandfather-to-be adds: ‘The girls might. Or we can ask Ichigo. Or just wait for Inoue-chan to drop by herself.’

They go with plan A first, obviously. Except neither Yuzu nor Karin have any idea where Inoue Orihime lives, and Ichigo races out of the house before anyone can come up with a good excuse to ask him with. And so Kazui winds up following his father to school because his mother goes there too and he’s got a better chance finding a needle in a haystack than hanging around at the surgery and accomplishing nothing.

Or finding a way back to his own time, which would probably be more productive. But he can’t be blamed for not thinking productively right now, right? He’s young. He wants his parents, and his aunts and grandfather aren’t quite the same thing (especially when one aunt can’t even see him).

It’s just his luck, really, to land in the period of time his father can’t see spirits. Fingers crossed his mother can, because she said she hadn’t been able to until a little after the whole mess with Soul Society started. But “a little after” was still surely before Aizen’s defeat, right?

Or maybe that’s just wistful thinking on his part. Or just the little boy who wants his parents.

It is like finding a needle in a haystack though. He tries asking if anybody’s seem an Inoue Orihime but they’d have to be able to see and hear him to answer and it doesn’t seem like anybody can. Until someone finally does. Black hair and black eyes and glasses and a stern expression… Ishida Uryuu hasn’t changed much either, apparently.

The boy frowns at him. ‘How do you know my name?’

And now would probably be a good time to withhold information, but relief overrides his filters and he blurts out: ‘Because I’m from the future and you visit our house at least once a fortnight.’

Though he’s probably lucky he’s small and cute and looks pretty non-threatening, because all Ishida Uryuu does is drag him up to the roof by his collar.


	6. an incomplete inquisition

He’s found his mother, at least, in that collection of people on the roof. And everybody else is familiar as well. All friends of his parents. Including Itsuka’s parents.

Everybody but Ichigo. He’s there instead.

                ‘Who’s the kid?’ Itsuka’s father asks, and nobody looks around, wondering which kid he’s talking about.

So they can all see him still. It’s just his father that can’t.

                ‘Hey, there’s no need to cry.’ And his mother is suddenly right in front of him, dabbing at tears he hadn’t even realised were there. ‘Some of them might look a little scary, but we’re all nice.’

                ‘I know.’ Then he laughs. ‘I know, ‘kaa-san. You invite them over every week. But they don’t always come.’

Someone makes a choking sound and he thinks: _whoops, didn’t put the filter back on._ He should probably fix that before he gives too much away, but he probably would have had to mention the whole Inoue Orihime being his mother at some point.

Speaking of… his future mother’s gone bright red, but her hand’s still gentle on his cheek. She’s still got that hairpin too. From the uncle he’s never met, his father had once told him. From the uncle his father only met himself after he died. Kazui had thought that meant his father was a Shinigami too – until his father had corrected him. A hallow, not a Shinigami, and his father had banished him early on in his tenure.

                ‘Explain,’ Uryuu snaps.

Kazui blinks at his mother. She’s still blushing, but she hasn’t pushed him away – and, better yet, she can see him.

                ‘Did Orihime get a love-child?’ Reiji asks.

Rukia slaps his shoulder. ‘Idiot,’ she snaps. ‘In case you’ve forgotten, we don’t go over to Orihime’s tiny little apartment every week either.’

                ‘I’d have you all over if I could,’ Orihime says sheepishly, ‘but living space is so expensive.’

And her recipes are rather… creative, Kazui thinks. But his father keeps them in line, mostly. Or Yuzu takes over the kitchen and makes them a feast. Still, her food’s creative but not inedible. It just requires an adventurous palate. And her bento’s her own doing, no doubt.

                ‘You’re going to try Orihime’s cooking?’ Keigo laughs. ‘Good luck to you, kid.’

Orihime blinks, first at Keigo then at Kazui, then offers her lunch. ‘Of course, you’re welcome.’

And Kazui happily accepts that invitation – even though everybody but Orihime gape at him for surviving the first bite.

                ‘Well, I don’t know if I’d count that as proof, but it’s something that you didn’t choke on the first bite,’ Uryuu sighs. ‘But can you explain _how_ you popped up from the future into our time?’

                ‘Nope,’ Kazui shrugs. ‘I’ve got no idea myself. And if I had to pick, I certainly wouldn’t have picked a time where my father can’t see me.’

They stare at him, a mix of confusion and understanding and pity – and an awkward embarrassment on Orihime’s once-again flaming face. Though no-one who’s understood all that can blame her, since she just found out she marries Ichigo and has a son with him and all that.

They can’t blame him either, for landing in a time where his own father can’t see him. Unless they’re ridiculously suspicious of him. Though they’re not, it seems. They don’t seem to be. It’s a time of peace for them at least.

Except Chad’s not there, Kazui realises. And neither is his father. So maybe it’s not peace at all. That group that Chad had been involved in… Xcution?

The others are looking at him oddly, again. But at least they’re not jumping in alarm… so maybe not Xcution, after all.

_Or maybe they just don’t know._

Then maybe he should follow his father tonight, just to make sure.


	7. mother's day

Orihime manages to take things in stride, all things considered, and Kazui is rather happy going home with her. Now he just needs his suspicions to be wrong and his father to be able to see him again and everything will be fine… or as fine as things can be in the wrong time, at least.

For now though, he can enjoy a bit of time with his mother. Even if it’s not the same, it’s better than the Kurosakis where his father and one of his aunts can’t even see him…

And Orihime asks a lot of questions, but not _those sorts_ of questions. Instead, she asks what his favourite foods are, what his school’s life, who his friends are, if he has any siblings… and that last one is a little awkward because his parents have been trying but no teenager wants to hear _that_ from their future son…

Still, she’s happy enough, and he’s happy enough, and they can manage like this for a bit, anyway. Until he can get back to his own time… and he really should work on that. It’s probably a good thing, anyway, that he can’t get completely comfortable even here. No reason not to go back to his own time: his own home where he belongs.

‘I’m sorry,’ Orihime says, around the same time that thought crosses Kazui’s mind. ‘I know it’s not the same…’

                ‘That’s probably a good thing,’ Kazui repeats. ‘If it was the same or better, then I might not want to leave.’

                ‘I wonder…’ she muses. ‘There’s the future, too, you know. I’d wanted my brother back for a long time, but then actually having him back turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. And yet it also painted the path to my future. I got to really know Ichigo, then. And met Rukia-san too. And also, I got to hear my brother’s last words for me.’ She touches her pins, then laughs. ‘And got some magic powers out of the deal too, apparently.’

                ‘The Shun Shun Rikka,’ Kazui says.

                ‘So you know about them.’ Her fingertips brush lightly against her pins again. ‘I suppose you would. Can you use them?’

Kazui shakes his head. ‘They’re your Fullbring, so only you can use them. I’ve got my own Fullbring though.’

He doesn’t get to mention what it is, though, because Orihime looks confused. ‘Fullbring?’ she repeats.

And Kazui wonders if he’s said something they’re not aware of again. ‘Do… you know how the Shun Shun Rikka work?’

Orihime shakes her head. ‘I mean, they have incantations, and centre around the hairpins my brother gave me, and seemed to start after run ins with Shinigami and Hallows, but I don’t really understand it aside from that.’

His mother knows a lot more about her powers. So does his father, for that matter. And they’re careful about how they teach him, so he masters every skill before using it, so they don’t consume him. Because, between his parents, he’s got fine control and raw power. Ichika’s the same way.

She’s got a wider variety of spells, though. But he can make do with what he has and he’s got a Fullbring and she doesn’t (because she’s 100% Shinigami, unlike him).

                ‘Well,’ he hedges. ‘That’s all true, but you always had that power within you. It’s got to do with residual Hallow power: with your parents having been exposed to Hallows before you’re born… which is why I have it too. And how and when it manifests tends to vary, too. Yours is physically represented with your hairpins, so you’ll be in trouble if they break.’ Has been in trouble when they’ve broken in the past – which is part of the whole story of how he awoke his own Fullbring, actually.

And that answers the question as to whether the whole Xcution incident has happened yet or not. (Answer: it hasn’t).

And then he groans. He does not want to get mixed up in that. He’s nowhere near ready to be mixed up in that, either. Sure, he has a pretty varied arsenal at his disposal but he doesn’t have a whole lot of sparring experience. His parents have worked on his skills individually, and only when they’re satisfied he’s in full control of all of them will they let him actually fight with them.

So he hasn’t fought a whole lot. Except with Itsuka. And when they sneak off.

‘You have that look on your face,’ Orihime says quietly. ‘The kind Ichigo sometimes gets before he goes out to fight somebody.’

‘I can’t fight,’ Kazui admits.

‘Neither can I.’ Orihime drops her hands. ‘The Shun Shun Rikka aren’t offensive weapons, after all.’


	8. stake-out

Against both their better judgement, they wind up having a mini stake-out for Ichigo. Though Orihime has the foresight to call for reinforcements, so Ishida Uryuu is there as well, and Rukia.

They’re all surprised (except Kazui who’s figured out when in time he is and has a sparse understanding as to what’s occured) to see Sado go into the club as well.

                ‘Should we follow?’ Orihime whispers.

Rukia does something else instead. A spell, and Kazui hasn’t learnt that spell (or many spells) from her yet so he can’t recognise it. ‘Safer than going in ourselves,’ the Shinigami explains. ‘After all, if Sado’s going in there, there must be a reason. And if he can see Shinigami, maybe his new friends can as well.’

                ‘They’re Fullbringers,’ Kazui offers. ‘And they can, if their powers have woken up anyway.’

The others stare at him. Uryuu is frowning; the others are just contemplative, and Orihime is smiling. ‘It’s certainly useful, learning all this from you.’

                ‘I don’t know about that,’ Uryuu replied. ‘Depends on what theory of time travel’s in play here, and most of those say you shouldn’t be giving us knowledge about the future… or changing it at all.’

Right, he’s forgotten about that. Not that he knows very many time travel theories. It’s never been important in the grand scheme of things.

Probably a good thing that the bad guys haven’t gotten a hold of the means. But hopefully his parents figure it out soon and pop by and take him before he makes a mess of things (or he has to visit Urahara, or worse the Section 12 Captain).

                ‘What theories do you know?’ Rukia asks. ‘And any way of figuring out which it is?’

                ‘If that’s really what happened…’ Uryuu eyes Kazui in a manner which suggests he’s not entirely convinced – but at least Kazui’s not a suspicious character, or he doesn’t think himself as suspicious anyway. ‘Then the possibilities are either changing the past affects the future, or changing the past creates a new future deviating from the old. If it’s the latter, it’s impossible to return back – except for the theoretical possibility of a two-step process with the first travelling back to before the points diverged. However, since the travel itself theoretically changes the past, then it might be an absolute impossibility.’

                ‘In which case it’s already too late to do anything about.’ Rukia crosses her arms. ‘Moving on.’

                ‘If time’s a single flowing stream,’ Uryuu continued, ‘that has two possibilities in itself. Either the original past took into consideration the time-travel of someone in it, and this is all playing out how it’s meant to, or it was not taken into account and therefore changing things here will have a ripple effect on the future, and it’s never as simple as changing things purposely for the better. Usually, the changes aren’t purposeful at all.’

                ‘Though that’s all science-fiction, isn’t it?’ Orihime says, mildly enough to not sound insulting like it would have from most other lips. ‘Time travel has never actually been done.’

Uryuu shrugs. ‘We’re not exactly well-placed to know that. Though it hasn’t been done in _human_ history, who’s to say the Shinigami or Hallows or something else haven’t managed it?’

                ‘I haven’t heard of such a thing from the Shinigami,’ Rukia replies. ‘That doesn’t mean it’s not possible, of course. I hardly have access to everything. But it would help if we knew more. And Urahara can probably help us.’

Kazui grimaces.

                ‘What is it?’ Rukia asks. ‘Urahara’s a nice man, though he’s rather eccentric and often has his own agendas.’ Like when he’d outfitted her with human skin that supressed her powers and almost got her executed too.

                ‘He’s creepy,’ Kazui replies. ‘And he’s got a cat that’s always staring and turns into a woman whenever she feels like it.’

Uryuu laughs at that. ‘You’ve got Ichigo as a father and you think that’s creepy?’

Well, Ichigo was his father, so of course he’s normalcy compared to Urahara.


	9. stacking the deck

His grandfather-to-be does wind up taking him to Urahara the next day (after the others fill him in, so now they’re all pretty much on the same page except for him who’s still missing past details). And Urahara’s actually a little milder than he remembers him to be, or maybe it’s just because he seems preoccupied. It’s better for him, though. He feels a little less like a specimen in a lab than usual.

It’s still weird. And Yoruichi is roaming around like a cat, too. And Urahara already has a project out. Somebody’s zanpakuto by the looks of things, and a bunch of bottled stuff…

Isn’t that Rukia’s zanpakuto? Kazui leans closer. Somehow, though, he’s sensing bits of his father. He doesn’t get it.

                ‘Ingenious, isn’t it?’ Urahara grins. ‘Spirit energy’s a funny thing. Individuals have their own inherent spirit energy, but the way we interact with others leaves a bit of a tinge on them as well. Some people’s even change. So for Ichigo-kun who’s lost his own spiritual powers, we’re collecting the tinges he’s left on others and seeing if we can’t fill his gauge, so to speak.’

                ‘Huh,’ says Kazui, and that makes a lot of sense. He wonders if Urahara’s toning his explanation down on purpose, or if he only grew more convoluted over the years. ‘So this might give him his powers back? And why Rukia-san’s zanpakuto?’

                ‘Why not?’ Urahara returns. ‘Ichigo-kun did use it until he awoke his own, after all. Of all the magical containers I could get my hands on, this one’s arguably the best – barring Ichigo’s own zankaputo or his substitute Soul Reaper badge.’

                ‘That’s his Fullbring,’ Kazui says, without thinking.

                ‘So that’s it.’ Urahara smiles, in the manner that suggests he’d had his own suspicions and is happy to hear them confirmed. ‘You’ll have to explain “Fullbring” to me in due time, but I thought it might be something Ichigo-kun needs by his side in this time without his powers.’

                ‘I guess.’ In truth, Kazui simply doesn’t know enough details to know if that’s true or not. It might have helped him avoid the whole Xcution fiasco if he hadn’t had it – or it would have just left him defenceless. Who knew. ‘So when will this recharge thing be done?’

                ‘Well, that’s the tricky thing,’ Urahara hummed. ‘Truthfully, there’s no way of knowing except testing it out.’

                ‘So when do you plan to test?’ It doesn’t seem all that different from the first question, really.

Except Reiji, who showed up for his own reasons, is rolling his eyes. ‘We’ve been trying, kid. Rukia’s sticking him every chance she gets.’

And Kazui coughs as air goes down the wrong way because _what the hell?_!

He takes back his previous thoughts. Urahara is still the crazy scientist as he is in the future – or rather, he always was that crazy scientist. ‘You’re stabbing my father?!’ he all but shrieks. ‘Multiple times, at that? He’s not a pincushion!’ Even his father, notorious for coming out of life and death situations alive, can only take being almost killed so many times, and stab wounds tend to be pretty lethal – or close to it.

                ‘As long as Ichigo-kun can’t perceive the spiritual world, a zanpakuto won’t harm him.’ Urahara shrugs. ‘Disregarding the hypothetical risk of him dying and becoming a Hallow and needing to be purified, of course. But your presence discounts that.’

                ‘So… you don’t think we’re completely messing up the future?’ That’s a load off his chest then.

                ‘I think it’s a lost cause if that was the case,’ Urahara shrugs again, ‘but it’s unlikely. After all, it doesn’t sound like anything in particular on your side happened, so there must be something in this time instead. And considering we’re looking for traces of your father’s power, you’re probably the best candidate we can hope for.’

Maybe so. That was one of Uryuu’s theories too, wasn’t it? That the timeline allows – or else requires – his presence for some reason or other. And since he’s not much of a fighter yet (and certainly can’t do anything his parents can’t already do), it must be something else. Maybe this.

‘So just to be clear, we’re not almost killing my father every time we test this out, right?’

Reiji rolls his eyes. Urahara laughs. ‘I rather enjoy Ichigo-kun in one piece.’ That’s not very comforting. ‘No, this isn’t harming Ichigo-kun in the slightest, I assure you.’

‘Okay, then.’ He takes a deep breath. ‘And what do I have to do?’


	10. pathway to self-discovery

It sounds simple enough, but apparently he lacks the self-awareness of more experienced spiritual mages. At least he’s not the only one, he thinks – until he realises there’s a certain advantage of having come into your powers late, as opposed to growing up with an awareness of them. The spiritual world is such an innate part of him and so are his parents that it’s hard to find where the parts of him that have been spared their touch exist.

Of course, nobody’s life resolves around just their parents – unless they’ve been kidnapped and locked at home without visitors, or something. And both his parents are pretty social people. There are his father’s family, his parents’ friends, his schoolmates (because even Shinigami-in-training have to go to school, though his school is pretty different from Itsuka’s), their neighbours and other people they interact with semi-regularly… There are a lot of people in his life, and now he has to think about all of them and try and separate them out.

It should be easier to find somebody who he spends so much time with and who’s such a big influence on his life, but it’s not. It’s harder. It’s too hard. He can find others instead. Urahara’s amusingly easy because he’s so creepy. The chief of section 12 is even easier. The people he barely knows, who leave strong first impressions… those are the first he can weed out. People he sees pretty regularly and who’ve allegedly seen him in diapers (including Itsuka who’s definitely too young to remember) are a lot harder, and Urahara’s not particularly helpful. ‘Think of the things that stand out,’ he offers.

That helps him find the ones that leave quick and sharp impressions, not the people he’s grown up with!

He figures it out eventually. It’s like picking voices apart in a crowd, or knowing when someone’s visiting when he sees their shoes, or something like that. Little things and it’s not necessarily something that’s blaringly obvious, but just something that clues him in. Like how pins remind him of his mother because of the Shun Shun Rikka, even if it’s just the one holding his bag together after the strap broke.

Why, he wonders, is finding his father the most difficult of them all? It’s been days, and he still can’t manage it. They’re waiting on him, too. Or they probably are, anyway, and Xcution’s been suspiciously silent so Kazui knows the shoe’s going to be dropping there soon too. He has to be on time, and only one of Uryuu’s time-travel theories guarantees he will be on time.

Surprisingly, it’s his grandfather-to-be who answers his question. Not the “how to find his father’s imprints on his powers” question, but the “why is it so difficult to find?” ones. ‘Everyone’s got a role model,’ he explains. ‘And of your parents, everyone’s got one that they emulate. It’s not the same as splitting them into the disciplinarian and the comforter, or the bread-earner and the house-maker or anything like that. It’s not the same as being a mama’s boy or papa’s boy or anything like that. It doesn’t even mean you’ve inherited more visible traits from one parent than the other – but rather, you’ve “inherited” their spirit, or personality.’

                ‘”Inherited” in quotation marks,’ Kazui muses.

Isshin grins. ‘Well, it doesn’t have to be a parent. Look at Karin. She inherited her personality from Ichigo.’

Kazui giggles at that, because it’s not as obvious in his time but he can still see it. His aunt Yuzu is quite a bit different from the rest of the Kurosaki family.

‘Naturally, you change as you interact with other people, but there’s a base that you’ve taken just a bit more from than the others. In your case, it’s your father.’

                ‘So that’s easy then.’ And it is, now that he realises that. The answer clicks. Real easy. ‘I don’t need to sort out everyone else. Just me and him.’

                ‘Exactly.’

And then his grandfather-to-be ruffles his hair – not that it behaves anyway.

That’s one physical trait he definitely inherited from his father and not his mother. Who he inherited the colour from isn’t so obvious, since his parents have similarly coloured hair.


	11. painting with colour

It happens too quickly, after his moment of enlightenment. He has a good think about himself, and his father, and what’s so different about the two of them (aside from the obvious things, like physical appearance and how he’s been raised and how his mother’s the voice of reason in the family, and how he’s been aware of the spirit world since about the same time as he became aware of this one…).

He has a good long think, and then he’s interrupted by the sword stabbing him. To his credit, he manages to get as far as pulling his zanpakuto out but not quite stabbing Urahara in the eye with it. It’s tempting to follow through on the motion anyway, but Urahara is trying to restore his father’s powers so probably best to leave him in one piece. Especially since it’s been over a week, now, since his father’s seen him. Over a week since he’s been stuck in this time.

He manages not to stab Urahara in the eye. Though Urahara used to be a full-fledged Shinigami, apparently, so he probably won’t have done any damage without his shinkai at minimum.

                ‘So you have a zanpakuto too,’ Urahara hums, staring at the sword. ‘Can you transform it?’

                ‘I can,’ Kazui replies, ‘but I’m not supposed to yet.’

                ‘Of course, of course. Using powers you don’t have complete control over can be dangerous.’ He laughs to himself. ‘Of course, Ichigo is another matter entirely. Takes a sword that appears in his hands and stabs a monster that’s appeared in front of his eyes like he’s swung swords and fought Hallows all his life.’

He’s heard that before, and a lot of people have told him how dangerous doing things like that can be. And his mother’s told him how thankful she is he didn’t inherit his father’s reckless nature. Rebellious sometimes, but generally not towards his parents (because you don’t grow up in a Shinigami household and not see terrifying things, and that’s not counting all the other stuff his parents are involved in, and obviously his parents know best)… except when it comes to exploring parts of Soul Society they’re not supposed to venture into alone with Itsuka.

He can blame Itsuka. She’s the real rebel of the pair, the one running about and getting into trouble and over-exerting herself because she’s trying spells and techniques she hasn’t quite got the experiences or reserves for. Adventurous, colourful Itsuka. Not the grey the zanpakuto in Urahara’s hand is smoking. Not the tinge of grey on everything else, either.

He can’t get used to that, the grey everywhere: a sign that he’s not in his own time, and he can’t ever get comfortable here. Even if his mother’s hair is bright, it’s muted compared to the real thing.

Maybe Urahara’s muted, too. And maybe his own pain senses are muted, because that didn’t hurt as much as getting stabbed too. But then he runs his fingers over the place and comes away with nothing and realises someone hasn’t explained something properly, because he hasn’t actually been stabbed. ‘Some sort of spell?’ he asks.

                ‘Of course,’ Urahara replies, ‘otherwise we can’t keep it in the zanpakuto for Ichigo-kun.’

                ‘Of course,’ Kazui parrots. It’d be nice to have known that before he thinks he’s been stabbed. At least there’s no blood. He’s not the greatest with blood. And good thing spiritual beings don’t bleed like humans do, because he’s not the greatest with blood.

Ah, he’s thought that already. He’s going in circles now. Why is that?

                ‘You’re looking pale.’ Urahara’s hands are suddenly on his shoulders. ‘I didn’t actually stab you though, and your reitsu should be compatible with such spells, with Ichigo-‘

Kazui doesn’t hear the rest. There’s a roaring in his ears instead, like he is bleeding out on something (and Urahara’s finally messed something up, apparently). He blinks rapidly, because his vision’s getting all blurry too, but neither that nor shaking his head to clear his ears does very much, at first.

Then it all begins to clear. His eyes focus first and the burst of colour hits him so hard they water and go blurry again. He rubs his eyes quickly though. Rubs them dry and then stares. He’s still at Urahara’s shop but it’s full of that obnoxious colour that his mother loves and his father thinks is bad taste (and he thinks it’s creepy, because it’s like the clowns at circuses) and that had been muted out by that grey sheen of the past.

Which means he’s back. Presumably. Hopefully.

Couldn’t he have popped up home instead?

At least there’s no-one actually in the shop. He doesn’t want to get into a discussion with Urahara that’s not finishing the other one, because that’s too confusing. He sneaks out instead. Sneaks out and walks home.

Things look right, at least. Not like last time when he’d walked through semi-familiar and washed out streets. He knows these ones. He knows them like he’s run through them hundreds of times and he probably has. Not thousands yet. He’s not that old. His parents might have, though.

He walks them this time, nice and slow. Maybe he’s savouring the colour and familiarity. Or maybe he’s a little tentative about going home because, last he recalls, his father looked through him like he wasn’t there and his mother was young and awkward.

But of course she was young and awkward once. And he’s far younger. Still, they can’t avoid the story now. Not this story, anyway. The others will have their times… and hopefully not with adventures like these again. They’re too confusing, though he’s learnt a little something and maybe that will help him control his reitsu for spellwork. It might help with a bankai too, but not at his age. Bankai are really dangerous on young bodies, he’s told.

Xcution though, and his father’s loss of power… he needs to know those now.

But first, his father’s eyes on him and his arms a warm embrace that say he can see him, and he’s there.


End file.
